Snap Inc. narrowly beat analysts’ estimates for first-quarter revenue but declined to issue a sales forecast for the current period, saying it’s navigating macroeconomic “headwinds” for its advertising business.
While sales continue to grow in the second quarter, Snap said economic volatility “may impact advertising demand more broadly,” contributing to its decision to withhold sales projections. Shares fell as much as 16% in extended trading.
Some of Snap’s advertisers are pulling back their spending due to the Trump administration’s planned changes to the de minimis rule, which exempts imports from mainland China and Hong Kong from tariffs if they’re worth less than $800, Chief Financial Officer Derek Andersen said on an earnings call with investors. President Donald Trump announced he is closing that loophole for Chinese sellers beginning in May, and said similar exemptions for other countries could also be eliminated.
“We’re going to continue to watch it very carefully,” Andersen said Tuesday.
Revenue for the quarter ended March 31 was $1.36 billion, the company said in a statement Tuesday, slightly above the $1.35 billion average analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg.
The company also scaled back its full-year target for adjusted operating expenses to $2.65 billion to $2.7 billion, a decrease of $50 million at the midpoint of the range. That could impact hiring for the rest of the year, because roughly two-thirds of the company’s annual adjusted operating expenses are “people-related costs,” Andersen said.
The total number of advertisers for the quarter grew 60% over the same period a year earlier, and direct response advertising — promotions focused on enticing users to do something, like visit a website or buy a product — made up 75% of Snap’s advertising revenue for the quarter, an all-time high. The company has been working to emphasize hosting those kinds of ads, which make it easier to attribute a success to Snap.
For the first quarter, Snap reported a net loss of $140 million, less than half the amount the company lost in the year-ago quarter.
The company’s subscription product, Snapchat+, now has 15 million paid subscribers, up 59% from one year prior. Overall, the company has 900 million monthly active users, edging closer to its goal of 1 billion.
Snap is one of many companies warning about how difficult it is to do business against the backdrop of Trump’s ongoing trade war, during which the administration has levied widespread tariffs on goods from virtually all of the US’s largest trading partners. Porsche AG warned of shrinking profit margins, sending it shares tumbling. JetBlue Airways Corp. pulled its full-year outlook Tuesday, and General Motors Co. also withdrew its earnings guidance.
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